


A New Adventure

by ominousrum



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, absolutely nothing to do with canon, anyway I wanted some Millian fluff so here it is, but also knightrook family feels, who is canon I don't know her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-07-16 07:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16081742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ominousrum/pseuds/ominousrum
Summary: When questioned, Captain Milah seems thoroughly confused as to how her crew has ended up there, in a realm they don’t recognize nor have any information on.





	A New Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> So this is pretty much an AU of the AU that is S7 - don’t think too hard about it, it angers the canon divergence. Basically wish!Millian because of reasons.

Alice’s greatest wish was for her Papa’s happiness because he had devoted his life to her. Even if he hadn’t (which was far from the realm of possibility), he deserved every happiness; he deserved someone _wonderful._

She didn’t fully comprehend what that truly entailed until she had found Robyn, but since then she desperately wanted her Papa to be happy. 

She’d heard he did once have a sweetheart, though it was always adamant that it wasn’t her mother and it had happened so long ago it was best unmentioned. Originally Alice frowned and fretted over this point, but in time small pieces of information found their way to her, Smee having relented enough to give her the barest of bare bones of a love story which she spun around in her imagination. 

One day she catches her Papa watching some couple on the dock walk by - all arms linked and infectious smiles and she sees his face fall a fraction into that painful mask of acceptance. She doesn’t even realize she’s made a wish - certainly not consciously trying to. 

She definitely doesn’t expect her wish to materialize in the form of a woman her Papa already _lost._

Alice also doesn’t expect to crash into Captain Smee who’s beside himself with worry, trying to warn Papa before he sees _her_ \- having just come in with a pirate ship no one had ever seen before - _Captain Milah.  
_

She wrings her hands and tells Smee to keep Papa detained while she questions the mysterious woman, not that she’s remotely sure where to start.. ‘Hello, are you real?’ seems a bit rude. 

When questioned, Captain Milah seems thoroughly confused as to how her crew has ended up there, in a realm they don’t recognize nor have any information on. The captain squints at Alice, quietly taking in the nervousness rolling off of her in waves and pockets it in her mind for future reference.

Alice stutters when she tries to say there has already been a Milah here, who lived and loved and died a long, long time ago. She manages instead to ask if in the realm they came from they had heard of Captain Hook. Alice lets her shoulder sag when the response is a firm no. 

“If he’s a captain, I imagine I’d give him a run for his money,” Milah grins, a mischievous gleam in her eye. 

“You did,” Alice manages to splutter. “Listen I know it will sound ridiculous but I think I managed to bring you here _accidentally_ by magic because my Papa lost a different realm’s version of you.”

Captain Milah’s first mate, an intimidating woman named Mulan, has a hand ready to draw her sword before her captain raises a hand of her own as she contemplates what she’s heard. 

After a beat where Alice feels as though Milah’s eyes may pierce her skin with their intensity, the woman gives a small nod. “I believe you.”

* * *

Believing wasn’t seeing in this instance though, and Alice was scared to see how her Papa would react to such an unusual turn of events. She takes Milah back to their small cottage by the water and hopes it won’t give him the fright of his life.

“You’re late, Starfish-” Alice hears her Papa start before his words die in his throat at the sight in front of him. Milah straightens and lets a hand rest on the dagger just inside her leather vest. Tears sting Hook’s eyes despite his suspicion with what he’s seeing. 

“I’m sorry Papa, I didn’t mean to. She’s from another realm - somewhere they don’t know a thing about us..” Alice explains as quickly and sincerely as she can.

“No, this is some trick-” He hasn’t seen a living breathing version of her face in so long, her beauty washes over him in waves. It’s more drowning than reverie. 

“I assure you I’m no trick,” Milah says, hand still not wavering from atop her dagger. “Still, I don’t know you. There _is_ no you where I’m from.”

Hook’s eyes widen at that before his lips set into a thin line. “A fact which served only to benefit you, I’m sure.” 

Milah narrows her eyes in confusion as Alice shifts uncomfortably in the palpable sadness in the air. 

“Will you join us for dinner?” comes Alice’s pleading lilt. 

She only waits a second after Milah’s nod of confirmation before she races off to set another place at the table. 

* * *

Alice does most of the talking during dinner - coaxing tales of distant lands from Milah, the sparkle of wonder in her eyes no less strong than it was when she was a little girl. 

Hook is far more quiet than Alice has heard him be in many months, sipping his water as though he were savoring rum, no crinkling of mirth around his eyes as Milah spins her adventures into fine dramatic stories. 

The evening ends with Alice embracing the pirate captain in a tight hug, asking her to visit as soon as she can. Hook tries his best not to let a certain familiar twist of hope spring up in his chest when he hears her promise to come back. 

Captain Milah and her crew, so it has been heard, have decided to stay a while. Milah insists it’s nothing to do with her when Alice cocks a questioning eyebrow; her first mate Mulan has grown fond of a girl she met at the docks selling talismans and cloaks. 

Alice keeps her opinions to herself in Milah’s presence, already plotting to spill all of them to Robyn later. 

Despite the pointed refusals that she has her own motives for staying, Milah does come back to their little cottage for dinner nearly every night. Hook telling himself it’s for his daughter’s benefit instead of his own. The two seem to have struck up quite the friendship and he knows how difficult it is for his Starfish to get close to anyone. 

It’s an odd interaction at first, Captain Hook is far too reserved in his manners and Captain Milah is far too suspicious for anything to develop. One night when Alice has scampered off to meet Robyn right after dinner, she tells him nothing will happen between them - the past he experienced with someone else won’t dictate _her_ future. 

He’s quick to agree even though he’s rapidly falling in love with this new version of her; the one whose hair is streaked with silver like his own, whose movements are a fraction less agile but whose expressions are just as fierce as ever. The one who stowed away on a pirate ship as a girl of nineteen - preferring the company of accomplished rogue women to that of the man she was supposed to marry. 

Of course he himself is a different man now - his priorities far altered from those of a stubborn fool plagued by addiction. The love itself seems calmer he thinks, but possibly deeper. Perhaps it’s the simple matter of falling for the same soul again, perhaps it’s that hundreds of years have anchored him where he should be. 

Perhaps he’s merely an older fool. 

He makes a point to never speak of the other her - the ghost of her nevertheless bristling against his ribs when he asks Captain Milah about her life. She never asks about the other her either, only about the man Hook is now. He speaks with pride of Alice and everything they’ve been through together; of how he’s been fortunate that wisdom finally took hold of him and saved him from a crueler fate. 

Hook isn’t clear on when the tides turn, all he understands is one day Milah strides up while he and Alice are playing chess in the middle of the afternoon and demands she be taught the game as ‘any decent pirate knows how to use strategy to their advantage’. 

From the grin on Alice’s face he deduces she’s expected this turn for a long while. 

* * *

When winter is threatening to settle down to stay, Milah and her crew are left with a similar choice. If they set course now they can avoid the worst of the storms and any ice that may be looming on the horizon. 

It’s apparent that Mulan’s relationship with the woman from the docks is more than a simple dalliance, however, as plans are made to take her on board whenever they do depart. Ruby was enthralled with stories of all the flora and fauna she hadn’t yet seen and Mulan promised to show her an island full of exotic wonders. 

Hook waves Smee away when he tries to broach the subject of the captain and her ship setting sail; it’s what any good captain would do and he has no claim to her. Alice bites her tongue when Smee looks to her for help; she’s loathe to intrude on her father’s life more than she already has. 

There’s a unique melancholy that comes to rest deep in his bones when he hears they will be leaving. He persuades Alice to say his goodbyes for him and urges her to take the small portrait she’s painted of Milah as a parting gift. She’s halfway out the door before he calls her back to press his favourite compass into her palm as a gift of his own. 

Having already mourned enough could have beens and should have beens in his day, the thought of adding to the pile is too daunting. As it is stands he’s surprised at how fortunate he feels to have known her again. Not so much a balm for his wounds but rather a softer filter to view them through. 

The silly, selfish part of him that shouts he should have told her he loved her is easily quieted as he chops wood; the cold filling his lungs with an odd calm as sweat prickles his brow. He takes a long walk through the forest letting his boots carry him farther and farther away from the shore. 

It’s nearly sunset when he makes his way back to the cottage, cheeks flushed pink and heart only slightly aching. His heart leaps to his throat when he sees her sitting on the porch.

“Milah?” he manages to croak, not altogether confident he hasn’t gone mad. 

“Was wondering if you had time for a game…” she gestures to the chess pieces in her hands, holding tightly to a queen. 

Somehow he finds that his feet still work as he shuffles towards her, lowering to sit beside her as the wood creaks against his weight.  

“Smee said you were leaving today.” They both know it’s a question but he doesn’t dare to look her in the eyes just yet. 

“We were and they did.” Milah confirms, inhaling sharply at the finality of her words. 

“They?” Hook asks, incredulous. 

“My first mate Mulan and the rest of the crew.”

“Don’t tell me there was a mutiny-” 

Her glare cuts him off more forcefully than a shout. “Of course not.”

There are dozens of words hanging in the air between them but he waits for her to explain instead of trying to pin down his own. His tongue feels like lead anyway. 

“I haven’t truly felt at home anywhere,” Milah starts, slowly arranging the chess pieces for a new game, “not even on my ship.”

Hook nods at that, how similar a life the sea had tried to claim for them. 

“Somehow I feel like I belong here,” Milah catches his eyes and he immediately recognizes the fear there, hoping his own don’t reflect a similar disposition, “not with some long lost version of a captain from another life but with you.”

A grin breaks across his face at her admission and he forgoes a confession of his own to capture her lips with his, hands cupping her cheeks and fingers brushing against the softness of her hair. 

The smile that greets him when they pull apart is different to any he’s seen before. He promises himself to earn a smile every day of the rest of their lives. 

“Besides I wanted to return this utterly useless compass to you, you great pillock.” There’s a twinkle in her eye he is _very_ familiar with; he scoffs in mock offence anyway, tucking the bit of brass into his coat pocket. 

“Did Alice give you the portrait?”

“I told her to bring it back home with her for dinner,” Milah eyed the makeshift chessboard before pursing her lips in contemplation. A swift flick of her wrist and Hook could tell he was in trouble. 

“Your move.”


End file.
